The present exemplary embodiments relate generally to print engine management and control. In one particular application, a visual representation of a print system is presented to allow an operator to make informed control decisions. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
As printing machines and related components become more complex, a need arises for systems and methods that facilitate processing numerous commands and ever-more-copious amounts of information. On the other hand, as processor speed increases and memory capacity grows, print platforms become increasingly complex in order to fully exploit the processing power of modern computing systems. The trends of increasing processing power to meet system demands and then increasing system functionality to maximize utilization of available processing power combine to cause a marked increase in the complexity of printing systems.
Conventional planning algorithms attempt to generate a planned ordering or sequence of events for processing a print job received at a printer. When multiple printing options are involved in a print job, careful routing of a sequence of pages to be printed through a printer can become crucial. For instance, print job planning can facilitate conserving resources such as toner and paper while improving throughput of a printing platform. Consumers want easy (and preferably automatic) control over their print jobs, e.g., customers may have jobs with high image quality requirements and hence may want those sheets to be printed from a specific engine. There could also be other engine specific aspects to optimize with scheduling such as maintenance or service costs/scheduling.
This problem is especially apparent in multi-engine tightly-integrated parallel printer (TIPP) systems where image quality tuning improvements or service actions may be needed if all engines are used to print the job. In this case, manual scenario planning may be tedious and planning without being able to view the implications is not optimum. Also customers may want to know and prefer to have some control over which sheet will go to which engine when running a job in a TIPP system and how the sheets are routed for simultaneous jobs. Accordingly, a need exists for systems and/or methods that facilitate automated scenario planning to allow an operator to make informed control decisions.